Atlanta Business Chronicle From the April 11, 2005 print edition

From the April 11, 2005 print edition

Real Estate Notes Martin Sinderman
Office Depot to occupy new digs downtown
A vacant building on Spring Street will be the new home of Office Depot. Kim King Associates Inc. expects Office Depot to take the 15,000 square feet at 859 Spring St.

"We've got two buildings we've been trying to fill, one at 859 Spring St. and the other at 866 West Peachtree St.," said President Beau King, who said he hopes to find another retailer to take the 30,000 square feet at 866 West Peachtree St. "We want to add to the retail density in the area."

The façade renovation should begin in the next 30 days.

Four Seasons Takes 40K At Riverwood

Four Seasons Health Care, aka The Healthfield Group Inc., has leased 40,000 square feet at the 503,455-square-foot Riverwood 100 office building, located at 3350 Riverwood Parkway in the Cumberland/Galleria submarket. The home-health-care provider will be moving its corporate headquarters from 6666 Powers Ferry Road in July, according to Duncan Gibbs of The Staubach Co., who represented the company in the transaction. The deal brings the building to the 94 percent-leased mark, according to Dean Giordano of ING Clarion Realty Services LLC, who did the in-house representation for the building's ownership in the transaction.

Fairway Investments LLC of Birmingham, Ala., has bought The Shops at Hamilton Mill in Gwinnett County.

A.C.T. Makes Apartment Buy

A.C.T. (Atlanta Chinatown) Investments Inc. has purchased Hampton Bridge Apartments, a 122-unit apartment community at 3395 Peachtree Industrial Blvd.

The company was represented by Peter Greyling of Richard Bowers & Co.

The purchase price was $8.7 million. A.C.T. Managing Partner Peter Chang has announced plans to convert the property to condominium use; according to Greyling, approximately 40 percent of the units have been sold to date. Chang also is a member of the partnership that, earlier this year, announced plans for the mixed-use redevelopment of a 30-acre tract adjacent to DeKalb Peachtree Airport.
Specialty Deal at Three Ravinia

Berkley Specialty Underwriting Managers LLC has signed on for 16,403 square feet of office space at the 804,528-square-foot Three Ravinia Drive. A specialty insurance underwriting unit created by W. R. Berkley Corp. (NYSE: BER) last summer, the company previously was in space at Perimeter Crossing at Lake Hearn. Dale Lewis of Carter represented Berkley in the transaction, while landlord CRT Properties Inc. (NYSE: CRO) was represented in-house by Kay Younglove.

Los Angeles-based SCI Real Estate Investments bought Cobb Place shopping center for $60 million.

Both leisure and business travelers are going to find less room at Atlanta-area inns this year, according to a recent "Hospitality Research Report" from Marcus & Millichap.

"An expanding local economy should help raise occupancy to 60.4 percent in 2005, from 58.7 percent in 2004," the report noted. Meanwhile, local average daily rates (ADRs) increased 3.2 percent, to $76.18, during 2004, and already are up another 4.2 percent so far this year. At the same time, "RevPar," a performance measure derived by taking total revenue during a given period and dividing it by the number of rooms available, increased 8.1 percent to end last year at $44.69.
Some 1,100 new hotel rooms were added to the local inventory last year, the report states, a number that includes the 422-room InterContinental Buckhead. Only 611 rooms are slated to come on line in 2005, according to the report.
Madison's mixed-use plans

Madison Retail LLC closed March 21 on a 2.2-acre parcel fronting Town Center Park where it plans to build a mixed-use project. The $1.15 million parcel is the second of four sold by the city of Suwanee to developers working toward the master plan for the new Town Center. Madison Retail plans to build a 31,200-square-foot, three-story building that will include residential units as well as office and retail space. Construction already is under way on the first building at Suwanee's Town Center, a 42,000-square-foot structure being built by Main Street Corners LLC. "This is going to be a product that the city and the community will be proud of," said developer G.K. Johnson. "There will be a higher level of merchants than those you find in a typical strip center."

In addition to Johnson, Madison Retail principals include John Williams, founder of Post Properties Inc., and Steve Whisnant. The firm also has a 12-month option on another 1.7-acre tract at the Town Center site.

Jack Anderson of Grubb & Ellis Co. represented Norsca Associates L.P. in its purchase of a 284,000-square-foot warehouse/light assembly building at 1200 White St. S.W., near downtown Atlanta. Bill Doran of Carter represented the seller, W.W. White Street LLC. The building is on 15.15 acres and is 100 percent-leased by Czarnowski Display Services Inc., a Chicago-based exhibit services company. The price tag was $7.8 million.

The Sembler Co. is signing up tenants for Perimeter Place, a 42-acre mixed-use development near Perimeter Mall.